Skipping
by Illuminating Flames
Summary: Amy is asked by Fiske to skip 9th grade to try and meet new people. Strangely enough, no one in Amy's current class is a Cahill or a Vesper, except for her best friend, Alexa. So, with the help of her Madrigal training, Amy befriends Cahills in her new class and is in for a few surprises. NOTE: This FF doesn't have anything to do with Vespers Rising or any books after that.


**I know, I know. I'm finally updating. It's actually DreamerGirllikesGray's turn to update **_**WHAT! **_**but for **_**some **_** reason, she is not updating. TO ALL **_**"WHAT!" **_**READERS, PLEASE READ THE A/N AT THE END OF THIS FF. IT'S MEGA-IMPORTANT.**

**I actually thought of this story when I was thinking about Amy and how smart she is, when I thought, **_**Hey, she's smart enough to skip a grade **__**and no-one's written about that before, so why not?**_

**And that's how the story **_**Skipping **_**was born.**

**DISCLAIMER:**

**Me: *in a mock-sweet voice* Jonah, would you be a dear and do the disclaimer?**

**Jonah: NO!**

**Me: *holding a video-camera* Or else . . .**

**Jonah: *sneering* Yo, a vid-cam ain't doin' anythin' bad to me.**

**Me: Except taking a video of you sneering like that and posting it on YouTube . . . or better yet, giving it to ABC News . . . or should I give it to WTOP?**

**Jonah: OK, OK. luverinreadindoesn'townanythingbuttheplotword! There, happy?**

**Me: *smiling* Very. *pointing to the camera* And it didn't even have batteries in it!**

* * *

**Summary: After completing her latest mission, Amy is asked by Fiske to skip 9th grade to try and meet new people. Strangely enough, no-one in Amy's current class is a Cahill or a Vesper, except for her best friend, Alexa. So, with the help of her Madrigal training, Amy befriends Cahills in her new class and is in for a few surprises. NOTE: Vespers will be mentioned, but this FF doesn't have anything to do with **_**The Vesper's Rising**_** or any books after that.**

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Amy's POV:

My reddish-brown hair flew behind me in the wind as I ran for my life. My legs prostested with every stride. My side hurt and my arms felt like they were on fire. Sweat rolled down my face. I clutched the 7''-by-5'' painting closer to my chest. Glancing back, I saw the two men in black trenchcoats not getting tired at all. I had been running from these guys for the past ten minutes and, if anything, they were gaining on me.

I turned into an alley. Everything in me told me not to make that turn. But my legs didn't listen. As I kept running, I realized why I shouldn't have gone in there. It was a dead-end.

* * *

Unknown:

"The target is moving. Judging from its speed, running." A girl said. She was in an old conference room, staring out the window at the beautiful sunny weather, but the shades were drawn, making the room look much darker and gloomier than it should've been. Her back was turned to a boy, who asked, "Who is holding it?"

"A Cahill. I trust you know what to do."

"Yes. Who shall I send?"

In answer, the girl handed him a sheet of paper and the boy left.

* * *

Amy's POV:

Even as I came to this conclusion, my legs wouldn't stop running, and my brain feverishly hoped for a miracle or that this whole dead-end thing was just an illusion. But no, it was as real as anything. Just as I was about to give up hope and pass out, two teenagers about a year or so older than me jumped off the building to my right and appeared in front of me. _Uh-oh._ A part of me thought. _The Vespers've got back-up._

But another part of me was wondering why the back-up didn't have long, black trenchcoats on, with blood in the shape of a small "V" on the left sleeve. Instead, these guys wore masks that covered their eyes and a little more **(A/N: For those of you who watch Bakugan, sorta like Masquerade's mask). **One of them, a muscular boy, had a long-sleeved shirt and jeans. Everything, including the mask, was a dark blue. The other one, also a boy, had a blood-red everything. His mask, pants, buttoned sweater, and shoes were all blood-red. But what really stood out was the gun on his pants. It wasn't a normal gun. It was a _dart_ gun. Taking all this in took me approximately 5 seconds.

"Go." The second boy ordered me in a commanding tone.

_So they _aren't _the Vesper's back-up._ The muscular guy grabbed me, shaking me out of my thoughts, and, while the other boy threw a smoke bomb in the Vespers' face, he directed me throught the smoke as if he could see perfectly fine.

When we were through the couple of blocks away from the Vespers, we finally stopped. I realized the boy was still in front of me and, like an idiot, I had let him lead me the whole time. He and the other boy might've saved me so they could have the painting themselves. "Hey look." The muscular guy turning around and pointed, "Here he comes."

I turned as well and saw a boy running toward us. When he finally reached us, he was panting and I had enough time to realize this was the boy with the dart gun covered in soot. I turned to the muscular guy. "Who is he?" But he wasn't there. When I turned around again, the boy who wore all blood-red wasn't there either.

They save my life, wear one color (weird), vanish, and I don't even know their name.

Suddenly, I remembered the situation I was in. I sprinted and kept running until I reached a certain abandoned warehouse.

I went in, and pushed a piece of the wood right next to the entrance. It gave away to a phone similar to the ones you would find phone booths. After making sure there was nobody around, I punched in a series of numbers and about a few feet away, another, bigger piece of wood slid up, revealing a small cellar type-of thing. I had to bend my head a little to fit into the short, closet-like space. I placed my hand in the middle of what most people would brush off as a child's attempt to draw a perfect circle and the circle lit blue and an atoumated voice announced, "Welcome to one of the Madrigal Strongholds. Have a nice day!" Another shaft of wood slid upward and I crawled through the small opening. I heard the two shafts slide down behind me.

I got up and looked around. I guess you could say this stronghold is my temporary home while Grace's mansion is being rebuilt. The first time I had come to this stronghold . . . well, I was impressed.

There is a fountain in the middle of the room wih flowers on the fountain's perimeter and aquariams on every corner of the room. Roses were scattered in a way that made the room look messy and neat at the same time. On the right side, there's an unlit fireplace with a coffee table in front of it and black sofas surrounding the other three sides. On the left side there are bookselves - also black - and colorful overstuffed beanbag chairs.

Fiske, Dan, and Nellie were all sitting down on a sofa, their back towards me. For some reason, noone was talking and they were all looking at the something in Dan's hand. (I later learned it was his phone.)

I cleared my throat.

All three of them turned around and when they saw me, ran to me. Nellie and Fiske hugged me, but Dan just waved his phone around, grinning in his dweeby way. "I was about to alert the other Cahills that you were missing. Couldn't you have stayed like that just a _little_ longer? I would have loved to see everyones' reactions."

I sighed. _Some things never change._ But I knew he was worried.

"What took you so long?" Fiske inquired.

I told them everything that happened as we all took a seat. "Who do you think the teenagers are?"

Fiske sighed. "I don't know."

Nellie stood up. "Since all the explanations have been made, I'm gonna go make dinner."

"You never told me why I was sent to intercept that painting from the two Vesper agents." I said to Fiske.

"Our informants tell us that sometimes the Vespers encrypt messages in their paintings. We believe this painting in particular holds some significance."

"So, who's gonna, you know, try to crack it?" Dan questioned.

Fiske sighed again. "I'm afraid you won't like the answer."

Dan snorted. "We never get the answers we like."

"You are."

Dan looked surprised. "What's so bad about that?"

Fiske held up his hand. "I didn't finish. The code is way too hard for you to decode yourself so you're going to have to work with others."

Dan grumbled. "I should've seen this comin' with Fiske being a Madrigal and everything. Always teamwork," He said, low enough that Fiske won't hear. Out loud, he asked, "Who?"

"The Starlings and Kabras."

"WHAT? THE KABRAS? YOU WANT ME TO WORK WITH THEM? I'LL DIE TWO MINUTES AFTER I SET FOOT THERE. THEY'LL THREATEN ME WITH THEIR DART GUNS. TORTURE ME WITH POISONS. AND TO TOP IT OFF, I DON'T HAVE HAMILTON, SALADIN, OR SKITTLES TO SAVE ME! THERE'S NO HOPE!" Dan's scream-fest lasted for about two minutes until he had either run out of things to say or his voice was too hoarse to scream anymore. Or maybe it was both.

I was equally surprised. "Really, Fisky? But why?"

"They're good, remember?"

The Starlings, okay. But the Kabras? Dan seemed to be thinking the same thing. "The Starlings aren't that bad. But the Cobras? The same ones that left us in a cave to die? The ones whose mother was about to feed Amy to the sharks? THE SAME ONES WHO WOULDN'T HESITATE TO KILL US WITH A SNAKE, ALLIGATORS, AND DART GUNS?" Dan's voice rose with every word. "WHY DO YOU TRUST THEM SO EASILY, FISKE?" Dan was screaming. Again.

Fiske was unfazed. "They were under the influence of their mother. Don't you remember?"

"Whatever." Dan stormed off to another room in the stronghold.

"Amy." Fiske turned to me. "You have another mission."

I groaned. "Already, Fiske? Summer vacation just started and . . . well, you know . . ." I trailed off, not knowing how to word the fact that I wanted to read and enjoy the summer; something I hadn't done in quite some time; between schooling, agent training, missions, ect.

Fiske nodded. "I understand. This is why your mission is going to be during the school year. I'm telling you right now so you'll have some time to think about it. OK? And you can decline if it's too much for you."

I nodded. "All right,"

"Amy, I want you to skip ninth grade."

I gasped. "Wh-wh-what?" A moment later, I added, "W-why?"

"So you can recruit more Cahill agents. Anyone of them who seems particularly skilled at a certain thing may or may not be a Cahill. All you have to do is get close to someone who you may think is a Cahill. We'll run a background check on them to see if their parents are Cahill. If we can't find their parents, then you'll have to bring them here and I'll take it from there. That's all."

I stared at Fiske, gaping. I waited for Nellie, Fiske, even Dan to pop up behind me and scream "NOT!". But that didn't happen. I finally recovered, and managed to say, "'That's _all?'_ You call that load of directions '_That's all'_?" And then, "Why do we need more Cahill agents?"

"So we can have more people fighting the Vespers. Do you accept or decline?"

"Can I think about it?"

"Of course. Let me know next week."

I got up on wobbly feet, and when I was finally steady enough to walk, I headed to the library to calm myself and just take in the news.

* * *

**Yes, this plays a major part in the plot and no, I didn't post it under the wrong story. So, how did you like it? Any CC? Tell me what you think in your reviews =).**

**Remember to take a look at the poll in my profile. Also, can you guys answer this question: Based on the way I write, how old do you think I am? And don't try to use the age(s) that used to be on/are on my profile because they are ALL wrong. **

**Also, to all my "WHAT!" readers, I have a couple of announcements:**

**-I'm changing the title to "Rules Are Made To Be Changed"**

**-It is DreamerGirllikes Gray's turn to update, so if each of you can send her a PM asking her to update, hopefully that'll be enough motivation/reminders.**

**-This is probably the one that you all will not like: I'm deleting RAMTBC (A.K.A Rules Are Made To Be Changed) **_**but**_** I'll be resposting it right after I delete it. I'm basically doing this so I can edit the FF, and because of that, there'll be a few changes so you might wanna read the whole thing again so you'll understand what's really going on. **

**I'm done with my mega-long A/N, so I'll get going now.**

**~Lills (yes, that's my new nickname)**


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